Interesting - as a player of the Black side I’m always happy to get b5 in and gain some space on the queenside and if I was playing white I would look to stop it. Bb3 is nice prophylaxis against this also
Hey Nigel. Thanks for commenting. I think once black plays b5, a4 gains in strength. Bb3 was indeed a nice move. Part of the reason I don't think I saw it was that I didn't usually play Bb3 in the Italian, always opted for a4+b4 and thus usually the bishop didn't go to b3, so it just didn't occur to me to play that move!
Interesting - as a player of the Black side I’m always happy to get b5 in and gain some space on the queenside and if I was playing white I would look to stop it. Bb3 is nice prophylaxis against this also
Hey Nigel. Thanks for commenting. I think once black plays b5, a4 gains in strength. Bb3 was indeed a nice move. Part of the reason I don't think I saw it was that I didn't usually play Bb3 in the Italian, always opted for a4+b4 and thus usually the bishop didn't go to b3, so it just didn't occur to me to play that move!
You probably meant 19. Re5 and not Re7 I would imagine ☺️
Actually winning a won position is hard !
Ope! thanks for catching that.